A native of Killeen, Texas, Winbush found himself toiling through Kansas University’s football preseason. School hadn’t started, and, though high school teammate Jason Stevenson, was going through the same practices, Winbush felt awfully alone.

And there was a woman, a girlfriend, left behind. In his off hours, Winbush would borrow a computer and an Internet connection to swap e-mails with his sweetie.

“It’s a situation everybody has to go through,” Winbush said. “I had a bad case of it. I thought if I was going to red-shirt, I really wanted to leave. It really made me second-guess if I made the right decision to come here. I remember telling my dad I didn’t have to play football. I’d get a job and go to school in Killeen. Man, I was 17.

“Once school got started, things started to flow.”

Did they ever. Now Winbush, a KU tailback, is preparing for the final home game of his collegiate career. Before kickoff of today’s home finale with Texas game time is 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium Winbush will hear his name called over the stadium’s sound system and stand with his parents and the 19 other KU upperclassmen who will be recognized.

And maybe then it will hit him.

“I really haven’t had time to think about it,” Winbush said. “I’ve seen so many seniors come and go. I’ve seen Senior Day after Senior Day. I was always just getting ready to play the game. Now I’ll know what it feels like.”

Winbush was one of 21 signees back in 1997, Terry Allen’s first year, but just one of two who will be recognized at today’s senior day. The other is kicker Joe Garcia.

The rest of that class red-shirted or suffered some sort of injury or left school.

The rest of today’s 20 Senior Day honorees are holdovers from former coach Glen Mason’s days or junior college transfers.

“The significance of it becomes more so when it’s all players you actually recruited,” Allen said. “We’re not to that point yet. It’s probably 50-50 now, guys who have been with you through the whole process. They’re guys you really get to know. That sounds funny, but you’re really anxious to see them be successful.”

Winbush and Garcia, the first four-year members of an Allen recruiting class to make it to their fourth years, have been successful.

Garcia, a place-kicker from Olathe, enters today’s game third in nearly every kicking category at KU and has scored 50 or more points in each of his last three seasons.

Winbush, meanwhile, needs just 186 yards in the next two games to move into fourth place ahead of former NFL greats Gale Sayers and John Riggins on KU’s career rushing list. Winbush ranks third in rushing attempts and rushing touchdowns and fourth in all-purpose yards.

“Has it been a successful career?” Winbush asked. “I’ll let other people say. I’ll let my brother say if it’s a good career.”

The 20 Senior Day honorees including 11 fifth-year seniors and nine three-year letter-winners combined to play 546 games over their careers.

But they never played in a postseason game, and a victory today could be a step in that direction. Kansas needs two more victories in its final two games to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 1995.

“Every year we thought we’d contend to go to a bowl,” senior linebacker Tim Bowers said. “We’re a little disappointed we didn’t go to a bowl. Right now, there is no tomorrow. The only game on our schedule is Texas. If we get by Texas, I don’t think the team will have any trouble getting up for Iowa State.

“What more could you ask for as a senior? You have a chance to control your own destiny. If you win, you have a chance to go to a bowl. What more could you ask for?”

“It’s going to be a memorable moment,” added senior fullback Moran Norris, who remains questionable for today with a sprained ankle. “Senior Day is always a memorable moment. But winning on Senior Day that’s a memorable moment you can tell your kids about.”

A loss, however, would mean those 20 seniors spent their entire KU careers without sniffing the postseason.

“It would be easier if we already got six (wins),” Winbush said. “But it makes it that much more exciting. For some reason and I don’t feel I play like that but this team plays better when our backs are to the wall. It’d be even more exciting if we were going to Iowa State needing a win. But it all starts Saturday. We gotta win this one first. I know I’m leaving everything on the field.”